Awning or curtain for open cars



(No Model.)

B. T. BURRoWBsf v AWNING OR CURTAIN POR OPEN GARS.' 10.516,762. PatentedMar. 2o, 1894.-

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llmbvhliwwllj N UNITED STATES `'PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD fr. BURRowEs, or PORTLAND, MAINE.

AWNING OR CURTAINvFVOR OPEN CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 516,762, dated March20, 1894.

Application tiled May 26, 1893.

To if/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD T. BUEEowEs, a citizen of theUnited States,residing at Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Awnings or Curtainsfor Open Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention is especially adapted for streetand other railwaycarscommonly termed open cars, such cars being constructed without sides andprovided with posts for supporting the roof, and located at either endof the seats which extend cross wise of a car. Curtains are required forprotection of passengers from the sun and rain upon such cars, but owingto the strong wind to which such curtains would sometimes be subjected,the difficulty heretofore has been to devise a practical and inexpensivemethod for properly securing the curtains at their sides withoutseriously interfering with theingress and egress of passengers.

The object of my invention is to produce the result desired in a curtainfor cars of thel above description in as cheap and effective a manner aspossible.

To this end my invention consists in the various novel features andconstruction of `.the attachments to a spring actuated awning or curtainadapted to shut out sun and rain from open railway cars, to be fully setforth in the following specification and claims and clearly illustratedin the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, ot' which--Figure 1. represents a broken elevation of a portion of an open streetcar, having my improvements attached. Fig. 2. isa sectional plan of oneof the posts supporting the roof of a car, and provided with grooves inwhich are shown the edges of two of my improved awnings. Fig. 3. showsthose parts illustrated in Fig.2,in modified form. Fig. 4. isacross-section of the lower edge of an awning or curtain inclosing acurtain stick to be hereinafter eX- plained, and one of -my improvedpendants for operating the curtain at either side or the bottom; thelatter being shown in elevation. Fig. 5. is a broken elevation of apoi-tion of a serai no. 475,620. (No man.)

curtain or awning, with its stiffening bar or .stick at its bottom andthe pendants.

Like reference letters denotes corresponding parts throughout thevarious views.

A, is the floor of an open street car.

B, are seat supports, C, being the reversible backs, and D, are theposts supporting the roof E.

.My improved awnings or curtains F, are mounted at their top upon springactuated rollers G, which differ from the ordinary spring curtain rolleronlyin the matter of the spring which requires to be considerablystiffer or stronger.

At the bottom of the awning or curtain F, is attached a curtain stick H,which is formed hollow and contains spring actuated holding mechanismsuch as described in United States Letters Patent to Hall, No. 453,409,dated June 2, 1891, and No. 483,490, dated September 7, 1892, and alsopatents issued to myself, No. 476,783, dated June 14, 1892, and No.493,885, dated March 2l, 1893; the extension tip h, of these curtainsticks I-l, moving in grooves d, provided in the posts D, as seen inFig. 3.

It may behere mentioned that the various views in the drawings are notmade on the same scale;-Figs. 2 and 3, for instance are on a much largerscale than in Fig. 1, and the parts shown in Figs. 4 and 5 are yetlarger than Figs. 2 and 3.

The awnings or curtains F, are made double or in two thicknesses ofmaterial and between these at proper intervals are inserted exible steelstrips I, which may be about one eighth of an inch thick and one halfinch wide, edges rounded and galvanized to prevent unnecessary wear ordiscoloration of the cloth,

of whichthe curtains -are made.

The awnings or curtains F, are made wide enough to reach within thegroove d, in order to exclude rain from the car, and if permitted to rubon either side of the groove when raised or lowered they would'wear toorapidly to be of practical value: ,To prevent this I pass a copper rivetJ, through both thicknesses of the curtain F, and the flexible steelstrips I, at a point near each end of said strip, so that the roundheads of said rivets come in contact with the sides of said grooveinstead of the curtain material. The edges of the curtains or awnings F,would have also a' tend- IOO ency to wear ragged very rapidly it'allowed to scrape against the bottom of the grooves d, while beingoperated, and to obviate this difficulty I allow the ends of the exiblestrips 5 I, to project slightly beyond the edge of a curtain, as seenbest in Fig. 2, and take the wear in that direction instead oi' thecurtain. The extension tips h, maybe formed integral with or attached tothe rods h', shown in sccxo tion Fig. 5, and the latter are operated bythe pendants K. These pendants may be of the form shown in the patentspreviously mentioned herein, but as the awnings or curtains for opencars are as likely to be required 1 5 to be operated upon one side asupon the other, some such form of pendant as for instance thesubstantially heart shaped pendant shown in Fig. 4, will be foundconvenient, as the eX- tensions 7c, are handy to grasp at either side zowhen the curtain is below the operator. The bars I, hold the awning orcurtain F, at all times within the grooves (l, and effectively preventits collapsing.

When building a car with a view to the z5 use of my improved awnings orspring actuated curtains, the posts D, will have the grooves cl, formedin their sides as seen in Fig. 2;--but in applying my curtains to oldcars, cleats, D', are secured to the posts D, 3o which form the groovesfor the curtains.

The curtains maybe made of thin material and double for their entirelength, or they may be formed of thicker material, and narrow strips ofthe same be sewed across at proper intervals to form pockets forinclosing 35 the met-al bars I, which in either construction are not inview from either side.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. A spring actuatedawning or curtain for to open cars, provided with pockets, a flexiblepiece of material within each pocket, the ends of which project slightlybeyond the edges of the curtain, and a projection upon each side of thecurtain near each end of each rod, 45 whereby the edges of the curtainare prevented from coming in contact with the posts of the car, andmeans for securing the curtain at any desired point, substantially asset forth.

2. A spring actuated awning or curtain for 5o open cars, provided withtransverse pockets, aflexible piece of material in each pocket, the endsof which projectslightly beyond the curtain, and a rivet through the twothicknesses of the curtain forming the pocket and 55 through the pieceof material, near each end, whereby the edges of the curtain areprevented from coming in contact with the posts of the car,substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature in 6o presence of twowitnesses.

EDWARD T. BURROWES.

Witnesses:

JOHN F. A. MERRILL, ALBERT E. NEAL.

